of Things But it is out â—f question the Eye of Faith sees Him that is Invisible Heb. 11.27 â—he Life of Faith is fellowship â—nd Communion with the Divine Persons 1 John 1.3 Say then I â—eseech you Can Faith see the Faâ—her of Spirits and hold Communiâ—n with the Father and Son and not with them that stand continually before his Face and nearesâ— his Throne The same Eyes of Flesh that see the King see his Attendantâ— that surround him Why should not the same Eyes of Faith see thâ—â— Spiritual King and his Attendants King's Children at greatest distance use to have considerable Acquaintance and Friendship with the neaâ— est in their Father's Court. Whaâ— should hinder yours with your glorified Brethren if indeed you havâ— it with their Father in Heaven Let me tell you Sirs the Goâ— of Heaven is a Lord of most numerous Hosts The Father of Spirits is not to be conceived of as Childless Nor the King of Glory as sitting on a Throne solitary Or dwelling in a thin Court There is nâ— such God in Heaven as is withouâ— his thousands and ten thousand time ten thousand Spirits ministring untâ— Him And all as spectable as visible unto Faith as He himself Alâ— so near unto him that one would â—hink it impossible to see Him and â—ot see Them All so like to Him â—nd so beloved by Him that conâ—empt of them is no small contempt â—f Himself The plain Inference then is this The Faith of living Saints faileth before their Memory of the dead ones â—oth so And the reason why we â—o not more by Faith live with them 〈◊〉 because we do not by Faith live â—ore upon God For a right Remembrance of Him is inconsistent with the Forgetfulness of them so â—ear unto Him C. 7. Your Interest binds you to Remember your godly Ministers and Friends deceased The interest of â—our Grace and the interest of your Peace and Comfort doth bind you The Interest of your Grace Need â—ou be told the Efficacy of Company You have your glorified friends in â—our company as oft as you have them in thoughtful memory And of such their company great is the double force To wit the Natural and the Institutive For naturally we follow admired Examples There 's not one mind of a thousand but receiveth impressions from them just as Wax receiveth the figure of an applied Seal Besides God hath ordained a Communication of Qualities from chosen Associates He that walks with the wise shall be wise God hath promised illapses of their Wisdom into them that chuse and hold their Communion It cannot be therefore but we must derive into us their heavenly Dispositions if in our thoughts we converse much with our heavenly Friends We must derive of their Love of God Contempt of this World c. The Interest of your Peace and Comfort doth no less oblige you That which serves your Grace doth in so doing serve your Peace But not alike all Nor scarcely any thing so immediately and sensibly as â—leep and pious thoughts of glorified Friends Which will soon be but of question if you use but a â—ittle consideration If you think a â—ittle what a refreshment it must â—e to be took now and then out of â—n Hospital of sick and crying Souls â—r a Bedlam of mad and ranting â—nes into an house wherein all are â—erry and wise Alas what is this World but a mad Bedlam What is â—he Church on Earth but a very Hospital wherein no one is perfectly tured What is Heaven but the Colledge of all Souls without sin or sorrow To retire in our minds from â—he Bedlam and Hospital into this Colledge To leave a while the objects of our Grief and go and entertain our thoughts with them who have none but of Joy No words â—an picture forth the sweetness of â—his Which is then always and â—hen only known when tryed I mean solemnly not in slight and â—nelaborate thoughts They are therefore their own Enemies who bury in forgetfulness their deceased godly Friends They rob themselves of not the least means of Grace and Peace Wrong their own Souls and that in their greatest Concerns Averting from so soveraign a course both to Refine and Revive them C. 8. Your God's Commands bind you to remember your godly Ministers and Friends deceased In my Text he commands as you have heard Heb. 6.12 He commands you to be followers imitaters of them and consequently I hope to remember them For Copies forgotten can by no means be imitated or used for Examples as is required Jam. 5.10 All the Texts that set forth the state of departed Saints have so many commands going with them of your Remembrance contended for You cannot think that God leaves you at liberty whether you will take and improve his Revelations or no. Or that any holy improvement can be made of the same while left in Oblivion Waving all others I will singly propose that one Text more which I conceive â—xtraordinary Heb. 12.1 Seeing we also are â—ompassed about with so great a cloud â—f Witnesses let us lay aside every â—eight and the sin which doth easily â—eset us and let us run with patience â—he Race that is set before us Belieâ—ers are here compared to men â—nning a Race They are exhorted â—o the means of running it so that â—hey may obtain the prize To wit â—y laying aside weights and sins and â—xercising Patience with Diligence â—hey are encouraged so to run also â—ncouraged by Witnesses given â—hem a cloud or great number of â—hem and this number placed â—und them encompassing of them â—hese Witnesses are the Saints gone â—efore us to Heaven Their Testiâ—ony is either of that which we do or of that which we ought to do As in the Races to which the Apostle alludeth those that did run used to have many Friends looking on them and encouraging them by testifying either that thus they had done or thus and thus they might and ought to do In like manner all the Saints above do as it were stand looking on us Not in proper Speech or intuitively we have no such Dream But upon Scripture-record they do still stand round about us And are by their Examples for that purpose recorded encouraging us in our Christian race Ready to testifie how we acquit our selves Though dead yet they in a sort see speak and testifie By their richly rewarded Duties they testifie to the wisdom of our most costly ones Those for which we are thought to be beside our selves and are most inhumanly dealt with by our Adversaries They are ready also to testifie what may be done in every case by us Principally this â—hat Faith will carry sound Believers â—hrough all their Duties and Dangers Upon many occasions we fall into â—ontest with our selves and dispute what is best To go back or to go â—n And in a Wood and lost we â—re Now these holy blessed Friends of ours encompass us And their â—erdict they do from the Holy Scripâ—ure
first P. 1. Godly Ministers when Dead must not be Buried in Oblivion My Text expresly commands the contrary Remembrance of them Natural and Moral is here required Naturally we remember those whom we often call to mind think of and speak with our selves concerning them For thinking is nothing but speaking with our selves Thoughts be the words of our hearts Morally we remember such as we do congruously speak of with our selves I mean agreeably to their worth and suitably to the proper End of our commemorating them This Moral remembrance without the Natural is impossible and the Natural without this Moral is at least vain and idle Remember your Guides is in effect thus much Multiply honourable and affectionate thoughts concerning them Thoughts proper and apt to praise the Gifts and Graces of God in them and to promote the same in your selves Our English Translation renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Participle of the present tense The Syriac Arabic Vulg. Lat. Rhemists Calvin and Grotius and of our own Writers Doctor Owen and Bishop Lloyd so take it But I rather conceive it a Noun Substantive in this place because the Apostle speaks of such as had been Rulers not such as continued to be so He seems to intend the Apostles Evangelists and all ordinary Pastors who had led and ruled them by God's holy word and were now â—t rest from their Labours and enâ—oying their Reward These he commandeth to be remembred but not with any Heathenish or Popish Celebrations These without the â—east particular deference unto St. Peter or any ambitious pretending Successors of his These with a veâ—â—y apparent exclusion of all the Tribes that take on them to Rule without speaking the Word of the Lord. All that Preach not oâ— Preach another Gospel But be it here observed it is not only or principally as Ministers but as Members of Jesus Christ thaâ— we are charged to remember these departed ones aforesaid Their Ministry of the Word is indeed considered as an Engagement unto the required Remembrance But it iâ— their Faith their holy Conversation and the glorious End of both thaâ— are proposed as specially obligativâ— thereunto Insomuch as my Texâ— may well admit a comprehension of all Christians that have fought thâ— good fight kept the Faith finished their Course and received their Crowâ— I mean of such as tho' they werâ— never called to the distinct Office oâ— the Ministry yet in all manner of hoâ—â— Conversation have ministred untâ— our Faith and Joy as all seriouâ— practical Christians do And 〈◊〉 whom after their Dissolution we may assert the things foresaid in Hope and Charity It being not for mortal Worms to conclude peremptorily who do enter the heavenly Mansions I shall therefore confirm the Doctrine proposed as so far extended And advance Considerations which do very convincingly prove thus much scil That godly Ministers and Christians when they are Dead ought so to be remembred as we have foresaid C. 1. Your reasonable Nature binds you to remember your godly Ministers and Friends deceased It binds you to converse most in your thoughts with the most noble Objects But of â—ll Creatures excepting the blessed Angels these are the most excellent They are so in themselves and so in our Opinion or rather your Faith When they were in the Body you â—â—ought them pieces of Heaven of whom the World was not worthy You â—alled them the excellent of the Earth and all your delight was in them How readily did you break from other Company put off any dispensable Business and undertake Journeys otherwise tedious to solace your hearts with their Converse 〈◊〉 And are they now grown worse for their very Perfection Are they lesâ— Lovely for their being in Glory Bâ— they therefore faln in your esteem because they are advanced unto Heaven The nearer they be unto their Lord and yours the farther must they be from all kind thoughts of yours What hinders that you cannot more delightfully visit them now when all that is delightful fill them That you cannot follow them to no worse a Countrey than you profess your selves seeking and nâ— more remote than that you havâ— your Conversation in if you anâ— true Israelites It is full as easie to think of 〈◊〉 friend at the Indies as at next dooâ— And of your friends that be in thâ— house made without hands as those â—hat be in any house of your own here â—elow Wherefore your own Minds if you inhumanely resist not â—heir Light and Law will be aâ—cending unto these Stars in Glory And that as naturally as the sparks â—y upward Or as Men impatient â—f herding with Creatures that live â—ut an Animal Sensitive life do â—esort for their pleasure unto the â—ossessors of their own more noble Nature And most Industriously â—nto such of them as are of most â—nspicuous Goodness C. 2. Your gracious Love of God â—nds you to Remember your godly Miâ—sters and Friends deceased Love â—hich is all Religion is of all things â—e most Imperious And of all â—ings to be named doth most comâ—and those Legions of ours which are â—â—dest to be Governed our thoughts â—endures not wilful Ignorance or â—â—â—getfulness of it's Object It hath â—en named very justly the matchless Art of Memory Ubi Amor ibiâ— Oculus If the Love of God prevail in your Hearts it will carry your Minds and keep them where he is It will turn the stream of your cogitations and hold them toward Heaven The Heaven in which He is not without his Children with Him Without the Souls of the juâ—â— made perfect who behold his face iâ— Righteousness and are satisfied with his Likeness Every one exulting in that triumph about Him My God iâ— mine and I am His. And is it possible think you to Love this Father and not Love these Children of His to Converse with Him and to forget them with a neglectful Oblivâ—on of them to hold an acceptablâ— Communion with him The beloved Disciple tells us unâ—â—mitedly concerning all his Family on Earth as well as Heaven Eveâ— one that loveth him that begat loveâ— him also that is begotten of Hiâ— 1 John 5.1 But what Children of hâ— can we Love if we Slight the very best He hath And do then regard them â—east when we conclude them to have most of his Image Likeness and Complacence C. 3. Your continued Relation unto godly Ministers and Friends deceased â—inds you to the Remembrance of them Sirs you have been often charg'd â—ot to look upon your selves too â—bstractedly but to consider your â—elves as Members of a Community All the World is naturally but â—ne Man and Woman's Children The Church above and below is but one Family Besides as you cannot be â—gnorant the great Lord of this â—amily hath pleased yet nearer to â—yn you and those â— speak of To â—ut you in particular endearing Reâ—â—tions unto them Your Ministers â—ow in glory were some of them our Fathers and begat you in Christ Others were your Nurses â—nd
joyful praises of him that Redeemed us and washed us from â—ur sins in his Blood such a Heaven â—ill satisfie my hopes I believe that â—ll Sin and Curse shall be done away â—ut I think such a Repentance is neiâ—her Sin nor Curse As I live in almost continual thoughts 〈◊〉 Heaven so the remembrance of â—ultitudes of my old holy Acquaintance 〈◊〉 seldom left out of these thoughts â—nd there are few sleeping nights in â—hich I dream not of some or other of â—hem And if it be a weakness I will â—nfess it to you that I have much ado 〈◊〉 think but some shame with confesâ—on will accompany me when I first â—eet any there that I have been unkind 〈◊〉 or wronged and that will know â—y faults better than here they did â—nd that I shall ask them forgiveness 〈◊〉 which I know being forgiven by Christ they will soon grant I supâ—ose you have read or heard of my Dear and Holy Friend Dr. Drake's Letter to Mr. Love before his Execution I go not so far but with myâ— thanks for your excellent Books I telâ— you that waking and sleeping living and I hope dying I cannot spare in my Meditations of Heaven the pleasant familiar thoughts of my Acquaintance gone before with all the blessed Body of Christ With such thoughts is passing your unworthy Brother Rich. Baxter Aug. 21. 1690. Men and Brethren THE Supreme Lord hath wonderfully distinguish'd men in the condition of Living But all are equal in â—â—e necessity of Dying David a King proclaimed himâ—â—f a Worm And alas we see and â—el it The Prophets do not live for â—er Tho' blessed be God our great â—rophet dies no more but is with â—s Church to the end of the â—orld The best of the Church â—ust be taken out of the World â—racious Persons must Die to be â—ved as Graceless ones must Die 〈◊〉 be Damned The Churches Angels be not imâ—ortal Mr. HENRY HURST was â—t for God has taken him You â—ow this good Man is fallen You know it you have and you do stilâ— bewail it So Samuel died and aâ— the Israelites were gathered togetherâ— and lamented him Many of you have heard a verâ— seasonable and useful Sermoâ— preach'd at his Funeral in this plaâ—â— And many more would have heaâ— it if the Place had been larâ— enough to receive them All of yoâ— if I mistake not are melted into 〈◊〉 good disposition for another Seâ—mon on the same Subject And 〈◊〉 Esteem for him and Affection 〈◊〉 your selves have inclin'd me to giâ— you this An Impulse is faln on me 〈◊〉 weak as I am to undertake a thiâ— very great herein Even to raise tâ— Dead To raise again this hâ— Man and very many more 〈◊〉 raise them in a very good senâ— and unto very good service Bettâ— than it would be if I could fetâ— back their Souls from Abrahaâ— bosom and their Bodies from tâ— Earth's bowels Plainly Sirs I assay in this Sermon to raise of our blessed Brother and of other glorified Brethren tho' not the Lovely PERSONS yet the holy FAITH the heavenly CONVERSATION and the victorious END Egress or Going forth thereof into Glory And all these for your Instruction and Encouragement unto Faith and Holiâ—ness I have found a Text apt like the Archangel's Trumpet thus to raise the Dead and change the Quick To raise Dead Saints and make more Lively the Living ones A Text which if I handle not â—nd you hear not amiss will do it For it is the King of Heaven's Mandate given for the raising of them And I will be bold to â—ay If the mighty work be not done â—tis because of our unbelief Heb. 13.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation Or rather thus Remember your Guides who have spoken unto you the Word of God whose Faith follow considering the End Escape or Issue of their Conversation I am of his mind who hath said This Epistle to the Hebrews is as serviceable to the Church as the Sun is unto the World But I wilâ— confine my present discourse to this stricture of it which is my Text The sacred Writer is here pressing unto Perseverance in the Faith Worship and Obedience of the Gospel For promoting the same he prescribes a duty of which our Pulpits have been too silent and your Pews too ignorant if I rightly judge The duty of recalling to mind Departed Ministers adding spiritual mental Converse with Dead ones unto Atâ—endance upon Living ones Making use of Comprehensors as well as of â—iators of Teachers glorified as well â—s of Teachers but imperfectly sanâ—tified And of these four things are reâ—uired 1. Remembrance of their Persons 2. Imitation of their Faith 3. Consideration of their Converâ—ation 4. Consideration of the End and â—ictorious Issue of that their Converâ—ation These are required for the exâ—ellent and important End aforesaid â—f these the Connexion is too plain 〈◊〉 be insisted on For the Imitation of the Faith of any doth evidently enough require the honourable Memory of their Persons We have no Power to follow forgotten steps Nor Will to tread in any but those of reverenced Feet And this latter as evidently requires the former For Reason admits us not to Honour or give our selves trouble to Remember such after whom we think not fit to walk That were to be absurdly prodigal of our Mindâ— and Memories Nor needs it be said either how necessary it is that we consider first what mens Conversation is before we consider what itâ— blessed End is Or how requisite iâ— is unto our Imitation of the Faith oâ— Believers that we have the motivâ— considerations of the gracious Conversation in which it did begin anâ— of the glorious Victory in which iâ— did end For how useless to youâ—self were your most perfect Knowledge of Heaven's Glory if you coulâ— have it without a competent undeâ—standing of the Work whose Reward â—t is And who would take care to â—ook much upon the Penny before â—â—e had took good cognisance of the â—abour in the Vineyard whereof it is â—he wages We must know the Race before we can or shall list much to heed the Garland And â—ruly till we see the difficulties of â—he Race to be run thorough by â—others and the glories of the Garâ—and put upon their heads we have â—ut little heart to Engage in the â—ne or Expect the other for our selves Well it were if by sight of â—oth we were duly animated The substance of the Text I shall â—abour to present in three orderly Positions scil P. 1. Godly Ministers when Dead â—ught not to be Buried in Oblivion P. 2. Their holy Faith and Conversation ought to be considered and folâ—owed P. 3. Consideration of their Conquest and Escape out of all their Difficulties here below is a very necessary motive to our imitation of their holy Faith and Life I begin with the